


Show No Emotion, Feel No Pain

by cuddlesome



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: Diamond & Pearl & Platinum | Pokemon Diamond Pearl Platinum Versions
Genre: Animal Abuse, Dark, Disturbing Themes, Drabble, Eating Disorder Not Otherwise Specified, Eye Trauma, Gen, Mental Health Issues, Mild Gore, Pokemon Death, Pre-Canon, Sleep Deprivation, Unethical Experimentation, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-21
Updated: 2020-06-21
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:34:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 702
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24835456
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cuddlesome/pseuds/cuddlesome
Summary: A young Cyrus disassembles a machine.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 23





	Show No Emotion, Feel No Pain

**Author's Note:**

> I've had this sitting in my drafts for around five years. Basically, the idea of Cyrus tinkering with machines when he was younger and the existence of mechanical Pokémon prompted me thinking about this situation. Mind the tags.

Every attempt at an electric-type attack was absorbed by the rubber gloves Cyrus wore in preparation of taking the Magnemite apart. After presumably using every attack in its arsenal, the Pokémon resorted to producing a high-pitched, electronic squealing noise. Cyrus couldn’t decide whether it was a Screech attack or just plaintive crying. The volume increased dramatically once he managed to take out the large screws holding the front of its body in place. 

His ears hurt with the continuous noise, but his heart stayed numb throughout the process of exposing its circuitry. The third and largest screw he left alone, as it had been used to strap the Magnemite down to his workbench along with the two magnets on its sides.

The insides of the Magnemite didn’t have the same simplicity as the outside, but rather seemed a mess of circuits thrown together. All of the disorder to the design gave him a headache.

After taking a cursory look over the Magnemite, Cyrus resolved to dedicate the rest of the night to the project and opened up an energy drink. His stomach had started to cave in on itself lately, not satiated with the meager sustenance that Cyrus offered it. He made himself ill on more than one occasion by way of too little nourishment and too many caffeinated beverages. However, eating and sleeping wasted time that could be spent on potentially beneficial endeavors. Seeing what made a Magnemite tick, for example.   
  


The familiar tap on the glass signified the return of Murkrow from his nightly heist. Cyrus slid his window open to let the small dark Pokémon slide in. Upon seeing the Magnemite, Murkrow clacked his beak.

Cyrus stayed fixated on his work. Occasionally he murmured, “I see,” to himself.

Murkrow stared at the steadily accumulating pile of nuts and bolts, agleam with oil, from the perch on Cyrus’ shoulder. He rubbed his crest against the side of his trainer’s head as he worked. The affection went unacknowledged. Only when he let out a caw as Cyrus extracted an especially shiny piece of internal hardware did he pay the Pokémon any attention. Even then, it was minimal. Without looking up, Cyrus held up the piece and allowed Murkrow to pluck it from his gloved hand. The Pokémon took the present to one corner of his room while he kept his treasures; pieces of evolution stones, all manners of broken machinery, and a few Amulet Coins sat in a small heap.

After a short time, Murkrow’s weight returned to Cyrus’ shoulder, where his hooked beak nibbled at his trainer’s ear in his approximation of a kiss. Cyrus tensed and for the first time actually looked at Murkrow. The Pokémon shrank back, instantly realizing his mistake.

He held up Murkrow’s Pokéball. “Return.”

Cyrus’ sleep-deprived eyes ached a bit at the sudden flash of red light. He set the Pokéball on the far corner of his desk so he wouldn’t have to look at it.   
  


He would not have allowed Murkrow to show such comfortable affection towards him at all had it not been for the theorizing that Pokémon’s power was brought forth by their love of their trainers. Most of the time, he could tolerate Murkrow, even if the surprisingly wide range of emotions that the bird Pokémon displayed were inefficient at best and sickening at worst.

He continued to work well into the morning. Only once did he falter--right before he tore out the Magnemite's eye.

Its tiny black pupil stared at him with something like terror or maybe accusation or something far worse as he jammed a screwdriver under the lens. The glass glistened in the low light Cyrus' desk lamp provided, making it appear that the Magnemite's eye shone with tears.

Cyrus set his jaw and squelched any feelings of regret that threatened to overwhelm his drive to do research by any means necessary.

With a pop that made energy-drink flavored bile rise in his throat, he freed the eye.

Oil dripped from his gloves like rotten blood. As he stared at the scattered metal carnage of what had once formed a Pokémon, he lamented that something as perfect as a machine had been given the curse of feelings.


End file.
